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World Chess Champions 2006 – present

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Name

Year

Country

20/15

Viswanathan Anand

2007–present

India

19/14

Vladimir Kramnik

2006–2007

Russia

Vishy Anand is the only World Champion in history who won the World Championship in 3 different formats: Match (Bonn 2008), Tournament (Mexico City 2006) and Knockout (New Delhi & Tehran 2000). Anand won the 2003 World Rapid Chess Championship as well.

The World Chess Championship took place from October 14 – 29, 2008, in the Art and Exhibition Hall in Bonn, Germany. The match was won by the reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India, who thus retains his title. Anand beat the Challenger Vladimir Kramnik of Russia by a score of 6.5:2.5.

9 year old Nicholas Nip is youngest chess master in US History beating Bobby Fischer's record by 4 years. On the Regis and Kelly show he plays 10 adult chess players including defending armed forces champion all at the same time. Nicholas is part of Academic Chess Program in San Francisco.

Chess Grandmasters

With the advances in computer technology, access to latest chess games and theories is quick and easy. This allowed thirteen chess prodigies in the last fifteen years to earn grandmaster titles before their fifteenth birthday. Playing chess to earn the chess grandmaster title is a challenging goal. Less than one percent of chess players gain the master and grandmaster titles. Grandmasters (GMs) have a great deal of commitment, determination, and they practice many hours every day. They memorize various openings, middle games and end games. GMs travel to as many as fifty countries during their chess career. The youngest ever females to become grandmasters are Judit Polgar of Hungary and Koneru Humpy of India, who became GMs at 15 years old. There are less than 1,500 GMs in the world. It is interesting to note that thirty percent of the world’s top 100 rated chess players are in the age category of twenty to twenty-five. Garry Kasparov of Russia became the youngest ever World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of twenty-two.

Chess Prodigies

The current world chess champion is GM Viswanathan Anandof India. Born on December 11, 1969, he picked his early lessons in chess, at the age of six from his mother, Susila Viswanathan. Anand holds a degree in Commerce and lives in Spain and India. He has been honoured with many prestigious awards like the Arjuna Award, the Padma Shri, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the Padma Bhushan, the Sportstar, Sportsman of the Millennium, the Birla Living Legends and the Jameo de Oro Award.